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THE 


MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


OF THE 


HOLY SPIRIT 


BY > 
VY 
THE REV. A. W. PITZER, D.D. 


AUTHOR OF 


“CCE DEUS HOMO,” “CHRIST THE TEACHER,” “THE NEW 
LIFE, NUT THE HIGHER LIFE.” 


PHILADELPHIA 


PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK 


No. 1834 CHESTNUT STREET 


COPYRIGHT, 1894, By 
THE TRUSTEES OF THE 


PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK. 


DEDICATION. 


THIS treatise on the Person and Work of the Blessed 


Comforter is dedicated, with warm affection, to the 
CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 


whose pastor [ have been for six and twenty years, and 
from whose members I have received unfailing confi- 
dence, kindness, and love. 
May the Spirit Himself abide with the Church and 
-go with the booklet. 
é A. W. PITzer. 


WASHINGTON, D. C., 
September 14, 1894, 


THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


BELIEFS concerning God determine the 
religions of men. If they do not believe 
that there is any God, then they are atheists, 
and have no religion—unless they worship 
themselves as the highest object in the uni- 
verse; if they believe in many gods, and 
attribute divine qualities to a variety of 
objects, then their religion is polytheism, 
and the worshipers are polytheists ; if they 
believe that Mary is the sinless mother of 
God and has irresistible influence with her 
Son, Jesus of Nazareth, then the religion of 
the people is Mariolatry, or the worship of 
the Virgin; if they believe that the universe 
is governed by foul and malignant spirits in 
the unseen realm, then. the ancient demonology 
or modern spiritualism is the religion of the 
people; if they believe that Jesus Christ is 

5 


6 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


God, of the same substance and equal in 
power and glory with the Father, then they 
have Christianity, the religion of the New 
Testament. 

It is a truism of theology that the concep- 
tion of the moral character of the deity who 
is adored shapes the moral character of the 
worshipers, for the worshiper will strive to 
become like his conception of the god he 
serves. The worshipers of Moloch could not 
be other than cruel and bloodthirsty, nor 
could the worshipers of Bacchus be other 
than drunkards, nor the worshipers of Venus 
other than licentious, nor can the true wor- 
shipers of Jehovah be other than strivers 
after holiness.) When Moses came down 
from the mount after forty days’ communi- 
cation with Jehovah, his face shone with the 
glory of God. The true conception of the 
mode of divine existence is, therefore, of 
necessity fundamental in the Christian re- 
ligion, and determines and controls the nature 
of the worship. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. i 


There is a God, and one God only—the 
true and living God, who reveals himself to 
us as Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father is 
God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God ; and 
these three are one God. 

Apart from this conception of divine ex- 
istence the Bible knows nothing of salvation 
for sinful men; apart from this it provides 
no redemption for the lost. The fact of the 
Trinity in the one indivisible and_ eternal 
Godhead is the keystone of the Christian 
arch. Eliminate the conception of any one 
of these divine Persons, and there is left 
neither salvation nor redemption. Men are 
saved to the Father, through the Son, by the 
Spirit. 

The Christian’s conception of the Father 
and of the Son is more distinct and vivid 
than his conception of the Holy Spirit. With 
the exceptions of the first and second Adam, 
all the children of men have had fathers ; 
one of the earliest ideas is that of fatherhood ; 
we all learn to say “ father,” we realize that 


5 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


we are sons, and from this knowledge of the 
earthly relationship we rise to the conception 
of the heavenly Fatherhood. 

The incarnation of the eternal Son brings 
him within the realm of the seen and tangible. 
We see and hear and handle the Word of 
Life. The incarnate Son of God is a historic 
person; in him Godhead is eternally united 
toa human soul and body. As we read his 
biography in the four gospels we have a 
distinct and vivid conception of his person- 
ality and work; with Thomas, as we gaze 
upon him, we can say, “My Lord and my 
God.” 

The attempt of the mind to grasp the idea 
of pure spirit is attended with great difficulty. 
A spirit invisible, intangible, without body 
or form, immaterial, infinite, eternal,—this 
idea is surely dim, vague, shadowy. And 
yet it may be found that the Holy Spirit 
comes into more intensely personal and inti- 
mate relations with men than does either the 
Father or the Son. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 9 


Three divine Persons are not more incom- 
prehensible and incredible than one divine 
Person. The mode of the divine existence is 
far more easily comprehended than is the di- 
vine existence itself; the inscrutable mystery 
is God himself, not the mode in which he 
subsists. Before the stupendous fact of 
eternal, uncaused, uncreated, relationless ex- 
istence the finite mind is paralyzed. This 
thought confounds the powers and logic of 
all human reasoning: man cannot find out 
the Almighty to perfection. Having accepted 
this thought, no man need stumble at the 
mode in which God reveals himself; in some 
aspects. of the case three divine personalities 
are more reasonable than only one. Some 
even think that the self-consciousness of God 
necessitates capacity to say, “IT am; thou art ; 
he is,” and that thus the one eternal divine 
Essence or Life is made known to himself. 
Each divine Person—Father, Son, and Spirit 
—can say, “I am; thou art; he is.” 


Our -knowledge of spirit must come from 


10 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


spirit; our knowledge of God, from God. 
If the things of a man can be known only 
by the spirit of man, so the things of God 
can be known only by the Spirit of God and 
by him to whom the Spirit shall reveal them ; 
and so all believers have received the Spirit 
of God, that they may know the things freely 
given them of God. He who searcheth: all 
things, yea, the deep things of God, hath 
made known the things which Ged_ hath 
prepared for them that love him—things that 
the eye hath not seen, nor the ear beard, nor 
the heart conceived; for the natural man 
receiveth not the things of the Spirit, neither 
can he know them, because they are spiritually 
discerned. Only the spiritual man can under- 
stand spiritual things. 

If we know the characteristic qualities of 
aman, and what he does, then we know the 
man; and this is true though we have never 
seen his form nor heard his voice. So, if we 
know the qualities of the Holy Spirit, and 
what he does, then do we know, the Holy 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 1k 


Spirit ; and this is true though we have never 
seen his form nor heard his voice. The 
spirit of man may know, and does know, 
the Spirit of God, in whose image he was 
made and whose likeness he bears. Yea, by 
the Spirit’s revelation man may know the 
deep things of God. 

In the Word of God three qualities are 
ascribed to the Holy Ghost—viz. : 

1. He is eternal, uncreated, and without 
beginning of days or end of years; for it was 
“through the eternal Spirit” that Christ 
“ offered himself without spot to God.” 

2. The Spirit is omnipresent. Whatever 
difficulty men may have in comprehending 
fully the idea of omnipresence, the fact is 
clearly revealed that the eternal Godhead of 
the Spirit is equally and fully present every 
instant in every part of the universe. 
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or 
whither shall I flee from thy presence? If 
I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I 
make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” 


12 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


3. The Spirit is omniscient. Knowledge of 
all kinds, and without any limitation, is 
ascribed to him. “The Spirit searcheth all 
things, yea, the deep things of God.” 

When we think of the Spirit. as eternal, 
omnipresent, and omniscient, his personality 
begins to assume clear and distinct proportions 
before us; and when to this we add his work 
as embraced in his manifold ministry, his 
personality is no less marked than that of the 
Father or the Son. 

In the wondrous revelation of Jesus Christ 
to John on Patmos the “ manifold ministi y ” 
of the Holy Spirit is symbolically represented 
by the seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits 
of God sent forth into all the earth. 

John saw in the right hand of him who 
sat upon the throne a book or roll written 
within and on the back side; this roll con- 
tained the whole counsel of God’s redemption, 
and the only being who could open this book 
and reveal God and his salvation to men was 
the slain Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 15 


Juda, the Root of David; and this Lamb 
had the seven eyes which are the seven Spirits 
of God. 

Seven is the covenant number of complete- 
ness, fullness, perfection, and the seven eyes 
represent the completeness of the Spirit’s 
work in applying the redemption made 
known out of the seven-sealed book by the 
slain Lamb ; in other words, we have in this 
expressive symbol the manifold ministry of 
the Holy Spirit. | 

The Holy Spirit has always been in the 
world and at work with the children of men. 
Before the ascension and enthronement of the 
Lord Jesus “he came upon man” sporadically 
and from without; after the glorification of 
Jesus he entered into permanent and organic 
union with men. In Job 26: 13; 33: 4, 
the creation of the heavens and of man is 
ascribed to him; and God’s mighty work of 
providence is also wrought by him; but it is 
in the application to the sons of men of the 
redemption wrought out by Jesus Christ that 


14 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


we are brought into the most intimate and 
intensely personal relations with the Holy 
Spirit. 3 

The frequent use of the number seven 
(the symbolic number of completeness, per- 
fection) in connection with the scriptural 
symbols expressive of the work of the Holy 
Spirit would lead us naturally to expect that 
an exhaustive classification of his work could 
be made under seven heads; and this classi- 
fication may be thus stated: 

1. His ministry in creation ; 

2. His ministry in providence ; 

3. His ministry to the Son of man—the 
Mediator ; 

4. His ministry to the writers of the sacred 
Scriptures ; 

5. His ministry to believers as individuals ; 

6. His ministry to the Church as the body 
of Christ; — 

7. His ministry to the world. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 15 


1. THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT IN 
CREATION. 


The creation of the heavens and earth, and 
all that in them is, is ascribed to the Holy 
Spirit. In the beginning God created all 
things by the logos of his power and the 
spirit of his wisdom; creation ever ascending 
from the lower to the higher, and all very 
good. By the word of the Lord were the 
heavens made; and all the host of them by 
the breath—the spirit—of his mouth. 

Who hath measured the waters in the 
hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven 
with a span, and comprehended the dust of 
the earth in a measure, and weighed the 
mountains in seales and the hills in a balance? 
Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or 
being his counselor, hath taught him? And 
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the 
waters; and God breathed into man’s nostrils 
the breath or spirit of life, and man became 
a living soul. 


16 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


Life in all of its varied and_ beautiful 
forms was imparted by the omnipresent and 
omnipotent Spirit of the living God. “ The 
production of beings advances continually 
toward more complex and glorious organisms, 
until creative power and wisdom are satisfied 
in the creation of man; and when in the 
Adam the image of God is placed over 
against himself, he rests from his works.” * 

The precise manner or mode of the Spirit’s 
work in creation is inexplicable, but the fact 
of his direct agency therein is plainly taught 
in the Word of God. There is no evolution 
from non-being into being, nor development 
from the inorganic to the organic. ‘“ Omne 
vivum ex vivo.” All things and all living 
things from this eternal, loving Spirit. And 
in creation, as the product of his power, is 
laid the foundation for both providence and 
redemption. | Without such a creation the 
new creation is both incredible and impossible. 


* Dr. G. F. Oehler. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 17 


2. THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT IN 
PROVIDENCE. 


“God’s works of providence are, his most 
holy, wise, and powerful preserving and 
governing all his creatures, and all their 
actions.” 

The relation of the Spirit to providence is 
analogous to his relation to creation. He is 
immanent in both; and, as the Executive of 
the Godhead, the universe continues in being 
in him, and all creatures and actions move 
on to their divinely-ordained end: all ends 
eternally foreordained, and yet all acts of all 
agents and actors contingent. 

He sends forth his Spirit, they are created : 
he renews the face of the earth, and gives 
to all life, and breath, and all things. 

In the symbolic stone of the vision of the 
prophet Zechariah there were seven eyes— 
and these the eyes of the Lord running to 
and fro through the whole earth; and Je- 


hovah declared to Zerubbabel that his pur- 
2 


18 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


poses should be accomplished, not by might 
nor by power, but by the Spirit symbolized in 
these seven eyes of the Lord. 

This providential administration of gov- 
ernment is coextensive with the entire crea- 
tion: all principalities and powers ; all angels 
and demons in the invisible worlds ; all races, 
nations, governments, empires, civilizations ; 
all potencies, powers, and forces in the natural 
and supernatural realms,—all of these, with- 
out exception, are subject to the guidance and 
control of this omnipresent, omniscient, and 
omnipotent Spirit of the Father and Son 
from whom he doth eternally proceed, and 
with both of whom he joyfully co-operates 
in the work of creation and redemption. 

It would lead beyond the limit I have set 
to this discussion to elaborate or dwell upon 
the ministry of the Spirit in creation and 
providence ; enough has been said to prepare 
the way for a fuller treatment of his ministry 
in redemption, for herein does he reveal God 
most graciously and gloriously, and he him- 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 19 


self becomes an abiding guest in the souls 
and bodies of the redeemed. 


3. THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT TO THE 
MEDIATOR. 


(a) The incarnation of the Son of God 
was wrought by the Holy Spirit; the Word 
was made flesh by uniting to his Godhead 
a true body and a reasonable soul; and that 
soul and that body were formed for the Son, 
by the Spirit, in the womb of the virgin and 
of her substance. The Holy Ghost came 
upon the virgin, and the power of the Most 
High overshadowed her, and the holy thing 
born of her was called the Son of God. 
There is no development, no evolution of 
humanity here, but direct, immediate forth- 
putting of divine power by the Holy Spirit. 
This is the Son of man, the antitype of 
Adam, who was a figure of him who was to 
come, the highest and truest Son of man, the 
first-born of many brethren. 

(6) Having thus effected the incarnation 


20 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


of the Son of God, the Spirit enshrined him- 
self in the Son of man, to abide with him 
for ever, so that the Holy Ghost was always 
with him, and thus, as Son of man, through 
the Spirit he always did the things that 
pleased his Father in heaven; that Father 
gave not that Spirit by measure to that Son ; 
he was full of the Holy Ghost. 

(c) The Spirit anointed the Son of man 
and endued him for all of his mediatorial 
work. When Jesus was baptized and the 
heavens were opened unto him the Holy 
Spirit. testified to his sonship by descending 
like a dove and lighting upon him. By the 
same Spirit he was led into the wilderness to 
be tempted of the devil, and when that was 
ended Jesus returned in the power of the 
Spirit into Galilee to enter upon his ministry. 

(7) The ministry of Christ as Son of man 
was wrought in the power and by the co- 
operating agency of the Holy Spirit. While 
we must never obscure the fact of the God- 
head of Christ, we are not at liberty to 1gnore 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 21 


or forget the positive action of the Spirit in 
the entire work of Jesus Christ as Son of 
man. ‘This is the name by which he habit- 
ually called himself, and as such he taught, 
and wrought mighty works by the Holy 
Spirit. On one occasion, when his enemies 
charged him with casting out demons by 
Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, he told 
them that this was blasphemy against the 
Holy Ghost, which could never be forgiven. 
To attribute the works of the Spirit to the 
devil is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, 
and is in its nature unpardonable. 

“ He was anointed with the immeasurable 
plenitude of the Spirit. By the light of the 
Spirit the man Christ Jesus thought all his 
thoughts; by the grace of the Spirit willed 
his purposes; by the strength of the Spirit 
wrought his works; till finally he through 
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot 
to God.” * . 

From beginning to end the earthly life of 

* Rev. Hugh Martin. 


y THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


our Lord as Son of man, and so Mediator of 
the covenant of redemption, was filled with 
the Spirit, so that he spoke no word, he 
wrought no act, without the concurrence of 
the Holy Ghost. 

We fail to grasp the doctrine of the 
Trinity, and fail to understand the relations 
of the Spirit to Christ, if we think of his 
mediatorial work as wrought by the power of 
his Godhead, to the exclusion of the omnipo- 
tent energy and ceaseless activity of the Holy 
Spirit. 

(ec) The last and supreme act of Christ’s earth- 
ly life was the separation of his human soul 
from his human body on the cross when he 
offered up himself a sacrifice to God for 
human guilt. As priest he was active in the 
offering, and he offered himself “ through the 
eternal Spirit” without spot to God. 

(f) His resurrection from the dead was by 
the Holy Spirit. His mighty power wrought 
in Christ when God raised him from the 
dead and set him at his own right hand in 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. | 2S 


the heavenly places: the same Spirit who now 
dwells in believers raised Jesus from the dead ; 
and Jesus Christ of the seed of David accord- 
ing to the flesh was declared to be the Son of 
God according to the Spirit of holiness by the 
resurrection from the dead. The Father, the 
Son, and the Spirit concurred and co-operated 
in the resurrection of the Man Christ Jesus, 
so that sometimes it is ascribed to one person 
and sometimes to another. The same Spirit 
who fashioned the body of our Lord in the 
womb of the virgin and of her substance 
wrought with almighty energy in raising that 
body from the grave. 


4. THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT TO THE 
WRITERS OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 


All the generations since the earthly life 
of our Lord see and know him only in and 
through the written Word ; and as the Spirit 
was and is most intimately related to the 
incarnate Word, so was and is he also related 
to the written Word ; and his work was just as 


24 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


essential and perfect in the one case as in the 
other. 

The Rev. Hugh Martin, in his magnificent 
and thoroughly biblical work entitled Christ’s 
Presence in Gospel History, thus speaks: 
“ Tf this very specific use is to be made of it— 
namely, that the Saviour in all ages means to 
fill it with himself, looking forth from it from 
generation to generation upon the sons of men 
in the very countenance and person, so that 
he commits himself to us for ever as being 
exactly what the Word declares him to be— 
then I demand its absolute infallibility, in 
order that my Lord be in nothing misrep- 
resented to me. We cannot tolerate the 
thought of spot, or blemish, or any such 
thing in the light of the knowledge of the 
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 
But what is: all this glory and perfection to 
you, lodged unspotted and unblemished in 
the person of the Word made flesh, if the 
revelation of that eternal Word in the written 
Word be less than unblemished and infallible 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: 25 


—if the written Word be less the express 
image of the Son than he is the express image 
of the Father?” 

When perfection and infallibility are thus 
asserted of the written Word, it is not claimed 
that God has promised to work a continuous 
miracle to the end of the age, so as to pre- 
serve every copyist, every type-setter, every 
proof-reader, and every translator from 
stupidity, carelessness, inattention, weariness, 
and error; infallibility is claimed only for 
the original work of the inspired authors as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost; his 
work of inspiration was perfect. Nor does 
the claim of infallibility for the written 
Word involve what is so superciliously and 
ignorantly termed by some the “ mechan- 
ical theory” of inspiration. There was no 


“mechanical inspiration,” 


from the simple 
and obvious fact that the writers were not 
machines. Moses was not a machine, nor 
was David, nor was Paul. The writers pre- 


served all of their separate and distinct pe- 


26 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


culiarities as men and writers; the influence 
of the Spirit in his work of inspiration no 
more destroyed their personal peculiarities 
than did his work of regeneration. “So far 
from the personality and the peculiarities of 
the writers being overborne or repressed or 
obliterated by the Spirit, they were brought 
out into more light and more positive action.” 
Paul was all that Saul of Tarsus had been, 
plus the Holy Ghost. When we say that the 
Holy Spirit is the author of the sacred Serip- 
tures and that his work is perfect, what do we 
mean? Just this: The writers of the holy 
Seriptures were so moved (borne along) by the 
Holy Spirit that the writings, as written, were 
not from the will of man, but from God. The 
origin, the starting-point, was from God, not 
from the writer; the Spirit moved him as to 
what he should write and how he should write ; 
and when the influence of the Spirit bearing 
him along in the writing ceased to be felt, the 
sacred writer ceased to record—for at no time 
did the prophecy come by the will of man. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 27 


How long did the inspiration of the writer 
continue? Just so long as he was engaged in 
completing his portion of the written record ; 
when his work was ended his inspiration 
ceased. 

To what extent or degree did the Spirit 
move, influence, lead, and guide the writer? 
To the fullest extent and degree of actual 
authorship—so that the holy writings are 
God’s; the Bible is God’s Word written. 
The record was made up by the inspired 
writers from various sources: at one time it 
is mere historic narrative; at another it is 
what the devil said ; at another it is proverbs 
of the ancients; at another it is transcript 
from the national history of Israel ; at another 
it is a quotation from the official decrees of 
Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus; at another it is 
the sad story of the sin of a saint ; at another 
it is a psalm used in public worship; at 
another, a prophecy delivered by a man of 
God; at another it is a direct communication 
of divine truth by God himself. 


28 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


It was the ministry of the Holy Spirit to 
direct the writers in making up the record, 
euiding them as to the matter and form of 
the record, influencing them both as to what 
should be inserted and what should be 
omitted, and so bearing them along that they 
were raised above errors in making up -the 
record as God’s revelation of himself. Not 
that everything in the Bible is a revelation 
from God, but the record is so constructed by 
the Spirit that it reveals God to men; God is 
revealed as the history is unfolded, and the 
sacred writers, guided by the Spirit, recorded 
just what was needful to make the revelation 
complete. The Bible both contains the Word 
of God and is the Word of God. The Bible 
records the manifestations or revelations of 
God, and inspiration relates to the making up 
of the record—what should be written and 
in what words recorded. ‘This word came 
unto Jeremiah from the Lord,” saying, “ Take 
thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the 
words that I have spoken unto thee.” Jer. 36: 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 29 


1,2. And when the princes of Judah asked 
Baruch the scribe of the prophet, “ How didst 
thou write?” Baruch said, ‘“ He pronounced 
all these words unto me with his mouth, and 
I wrote them.” Jer. 36:17, 18. 

The apostle Paul in his letter to the 
Galatians lays great stress upon the fact that, 
in making his covenant with Abraham, God 
used the word “seed,” not “seeds,” and that 
Moses, guided by the Spirit, had made up the 
record in perfect accord with that fact, and 
had written “seed,” not ‘seeds. Whether 
“plenary,” “mechanical,” or “verbal,” the 
Holy Spirit exerted sufficient influence to 
keep the sacred penman from using the 
wrong word. If Moses had used the plural 
instead of the singular in the twelfth chapter 
of Genesis, Paul would have been constrained 
to strike out the third of Galatians. 

“What God said to the sacred writer in 
the depths of his soul, he now speaks to 
others; and what he speaks is not his own 
thought, nor his notion of what God has 


30 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


revealed to him, but God’s own veritable 
word. It is not God’s word with some 
human and fallible element introduced into 
it, which must first be eliminated before the 
exact truth of God can be ascertained, but 
that which comes forth from his tongue is 
God’s word pure and simple. There is 
nothing mechanical about this. In using the 
inspired writer as an organ of his revelation 
the Lord made use of the whole man—not 
merely of his fingers to record, or of his 
tongue to utter, words dictated to him, and 
upon which his mind had not been employed. 
God made use of the mind of the man, acting 
freely in its intellectual operations, with its 
particular faculties, its mode of thought and 
style of expression, and yet so guided and 
controlled that he gives forth without error 
or mistake just what has been revealed to 
him. It is the word of man; it is also the 
word of God.” * — 

After thirty-four years’ laborious study of 

* Rev. Dr. W. H. Green. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. ol 


these records I am fully satisfied of their 
genuineness and authenticity; that is, they 
were written by their reputed authors, and 
accurately record events as they actually 
occurred. I am not unaware of the claims 
that have been put forth in behalf of the 
‘“ Deuteronomist,” the “ Redactor,” and even 
the “ Post Exilist ;’ but these persons are 
utterly unknown to history; there is not even 
the trace of a tradition, Jewish, Assyrian, 
Babylonian, Persian, or Grecian, concerning 
them; and yet an inflated and arrogant criti- 
cism demands that well-known historic per- 
sons, as Moses, David, Jeremiah, and Daniel, 
shall be superseded in the authorship of the 
books that bear their names by the utterly 
unknown and unhistoric persons designated 
in Germany as “ Elohist,” “ Jehovist,” “ Re- 
dactor,”’ and “ Post Exilist.” | 


ate THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


5. THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT TO 
BELIEVERS AS INDIVIDUALS. 


The Holy Ghost formed for the Son of 
man, as God-man—Mediator, a new and 
unique life; so every son of man who be- 
comes a son of God in and by regeneration 
receives a new, unique, and eternal life. 

(a) Christ said plainly to Nicodemus, 
“Except a man be born anew, he cannot see 
the kingdom of God” (R. V.). And when 
the Jewish ruler marveled, the Lord told him 
that this new birth was by the water of the 
Word and the power of the Spirit. The 
higher heavenly kingdom can be entered only 
by the higher spiritual birth. To be born 
“again” in the same old way and grow up 
the same “old man” would prove the truth 
_of the saying, “That which is born of the 
flesh is flesh.” Only that which is born of 
the Spirit is spiritual. 

The Holy Spirit in his work of regeneration 


implants in a soul spiritually dead a new life, 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 33 


a vital principle of holiness; and this new, 
divine, and eternal life doth not and cannot 
sin, for his seed abideth in him. 1 John 3:9 
(Rk. V.). The old life of the old man, the life 
of the flesh, coexists side by side in the one 
person, and the two are contrary, the one to 
the other. 

The “ passivity” of the believer in regen- 
eration is the “passivity” of a free, active, 
moral, responsible, and spiritual agent who 
is made willing in the day of the Spirit’s 
power. 

It deserves earnest attention that the Spirit 
in his work of moral and spiritual renovation 
never moves upon men in masses, but always 
as single individuals ; he attempts no reform 
in church or state or communities, except as 
he renews the individual heart and sends 
forth the new man in Christ Jesus as a light- 
and life-giving factor in human society. 

(6) The indwelling Spirit. 

“ He shall be in you,” said our Lord to his 


disciples. Let each and every believer en- 
3 


o4 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


deavor to realize this most precious and fruit- 
ful fact: the omnipresent, eternal Spirit, a 
divine Person, dwells in me; I am the habita- 
tion of God. 

Many Christians think and_ speak of the 
Spirit as if he were very far from them—as 
if they could only hope for an occasional visit 
from him, or perhaps some influence from 
him. Some ignorantly imagine that his 
blessed presence and influence can be enjoyed 
only after long and _ persistent importuning of 
God the Father. Some Christians, even in- 
telligent and educated ones, speak of the 
Spirit as “ 7.” 

Our Lord expressly promised to give his 
people a divine Person to abide with them for 
ever, to be in them, to dwell with them. How 
few, alas, realize this fact and live in the light 
of it! 

Rey. Andrew Murray, in his admirable 
work “ The Spirit of Christ,’ says: “This 
indwelling is to be recognized by faith. 
Even though I cannot see the least evidence 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. ao 


of his working, I must reverently believe that 
he dwells in me. In that faith I am trust- 
fully to count upon his working, and to wait 
for it. His first workings may be so feeble 
and hidden that I can hardly recognize them 
as coming from him; they may appear to be 
nothing more than the voice of conscience or 
the familiar sound of some Bible truth. Let 
me be faithful to what appears to be nearest 
to his voice, and yield up my whole being to 
his teaching and guidance.” 

(c) With this indwelling is connected the 
leadership of the Spirit. “ For as many as 
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
sons of God.” When the righteousness of 
the law has been fulfilled in these sons in 
Christ Jesus, they ought to walk, not after or 
according to the old nature before regenera- 
tion, but according to the promptings of the 
indwelling Spirit of God. A son of God 
must in all things walk, not as he wishes, but 
as the Spirit of the Father, dwelling in him, 
wishes him to walk. If we have new life 


36 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


from and in the Spirit, then also must we 
walk in the Spirit. 

All of our worship—the holiest actions of 
our life—to be acceptable to God, must be 
not from ourself, not in the strength of 
man, but by the power of the Holy Spirit 
and under his inspiration and_ leadership. 
The Spirit himself maketh intercession for 
the saints. according to the will of God. 
This is what the Saviour meant when he told 
the woman of Samaria that the true wor- 
shipers of the Father must worship not only 
in truth, but also in spirit. The fruit of 
this indwelling and leadership of the Spirit, 
as the children of God walk in him, is daily 
seen to be love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and 
temperance ; for the passions and lusts of the 
flesh have been crucified. 

And this “walk” is within easy reach of 
every child of God who will yield himself 
up to be led by the Spirit ; unless he is willing 
to be led, the Spirit cannot lead him. Every 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. od 


believer does have at all times every particle 
of spiritual influence and power that he is 
willing to receive from the Holy Ghost. If 
he is not filled with the Spirit, it is simply 
because he will not permit himself to be filled. 

(d) The Spirit testifies to the believer’s 
sonship. The Spirit himself beareth witness 
with our spirit that we are the children of 
God. There is fellowship between the Holy 
Spirit and the new creature in Christ Jesus, 
and the former says to the latter, “Thou art 
born of the Spirit, born of God; thou art 
God’s child.” The believer receives the 
spirit of adoption because he is a son; he 
has both the nature and name of son, and the 
Spirit in his heart enables him to say, “ Abba, 
Father.” 

The Spirit also “seals” the believer as 
God’s child, and is to every son thus sealed 
the “earnest” of his inheritance until the 
day of the redemption of the purchased 
possession—viz. the resurrection of the body. 
This sealing of the Spirit marks the believer 


38 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


as God’s child and possession, and is a guaran- 
tee from God of the certainty of his promises 
and of the security of his child. 

The indwelling and sealing of the Spirit 
are an “earnest”—the first-fruits of the 
heavenly inheritance, and a pledge of the full 
harvest of glory and blessedness. 

(ec) The resurrection and glorification of the 
saints by the Holy Spirit. 

We have seen that the resurrection and 
glorification of Christ Jesus as Son of man 
were accomplished by the Spirit dwelling in 
him; and, since he is made like unto his 
brethren in all things, his brethren also, by 
the same Spirit, are made like unto him; and 
30, “if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus 
from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up 
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your 
mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in 
you ;” and we are all awaiting the Parousia 
of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, who 
will fashion anew the body of our humiliation, 
that it may be like the body of his glory; 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 39 


then, and not until then, will death be swal- 
lowed up in victory. Then the creation shall 
be delivered from the bondage of corruption 
into the liberty of the glory of the children 
of God, and God will indeed dwell with men 
in the new heavens and earth. Rom. 8: 21; 
Rey. 21: 1-3. 


6. THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT TO THE: 
: CHURCH. 


The word church, ekklesia, has a variety of 
significations in the Word of God: Ist. The 
holy universal Church—the mystical body of 
Christ (John 10:16; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 
12: 15-31), 2d. The whole congregation of 
faithful people (Acts 2:47); 3d. The local or 
private congregation (Acts 14:27; Rom. 16: 
5); 4th. The place of worship. 1 Cor. 11:18. 

The Spirit comes into organic connection 
and union with the Church, considered as a 
vine with many branches, a body with many 
members, a temple built of living stones, 2 
holy temple in the Lord builded of individual 


40 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


believers, the new creatures in Christ, and 
these builded together for a habitation of 
God. As the Spirit inhabited the body of 
the Son of man, as he dwells in each believer, 
so also he inhabits the mystical body of 
Christ, which is his Church. The elect of 
God are called out of a lost race, and are, by 
the Spirit, built into this living temple, the 
habitation of God for ever. 

(a) The Spirit endues the Church with 
power for service. . 

Nothing is more common in these days 
than for the Church to point to her large and 
rapidly-increasing membership, her numerous 
and richly-endowed institutions of learning, 
her eloquent and_ scholastic ministry, her 
costly and comfortable houses of worship, her 
refined and artistic music, her long roll of 
eminent, influential, and wealthy members, 
her able and aggressive press, and her ever- 
increasing influence at the polls, in the halls 
of legislature, and in the cabinets of kings. 
And yet all these, without the indwelling 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 41 


presence of the Holy Spirit, are absolutely 
devoid of any and all spiritual power—nay, 
may prove hurtful snares, if they turn the 
heart of the Church away from entire de- 
pendence on the Holy Spirit. Whenever the 
Church says, “I am rich and increased with 
goods, and have need of nothing,” her Lord 
will spew her out of his mouth. | 

He told the Church plainly the source of 
spiritual power when he said, “ Ye shall 
receive power ”—-dunamis— after that the 
Holy Ghost is come upon you.” 

When the day of Pentecost was fully come 
the promise of the Father and the prediction 
of Joel were fulfilled, though not exhausted ; 
the Holy Spirit came upon not the apostles 
only, but also upon all the disciples, and all 
of them being filled with the Spirit were endued 
with power for service. What that power 
did, and what it can always do, is recorded 
in the Acts of the Apostles. 

(b) The Spirit calls and qualifies believers 


for service. 


4? THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


The field is the world, and God has need 
for a great variety of workmen and of work ; 
and the Spirit claims as his special and sov- 
ereign prerogative the calling and furnishing 
of all these multitudinous workmen for their 
several and varied services. 

No apostle planted the church in. the 
Syrian Antioch, but disciples, scattered by 
the persecution, bore the glad tidings to that 
famous city ; a Gentile church was gathered, 
and as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, 
the Holy Ghost said, ‘“ Separate me Barnabas 
and Saul for the work whereunto I have 
called them ;” and the believers laid hands on 
them, and they, being sent forth by the Holy 
Ghost, departed to Seleucia. 

In this instance the Spirit calls; the Spirit 
qualifies; the Spirit bestows authority; the 
Spirit designates the work. The Church 
recognizes, accepts, and certifies what the 
Spirit has already done. 

Some ecclesiastical bodies arrogate to them- 
selves this high function and prerogative of 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 43 


the Holy Spirit. They claim to confer 
“authority” on men to serve the Lord 
Christ, and deny that any man is or can be 
called to the ministry except through the holy 
orders or the ecclesiastical ordination manipu- 
lated by them through the lawful apostolic 
succession or the historic episcopate. Even 
many Christians who reject both popery and 
prelacy attach a superstitious veneration to 
ordination, and vainly imagine that the human 
act of ordination imparts divine authority 
and qualification for the ministry. “ Human 
ordination imparts nothing, whether character, 
power, grace, or privilege ; it is a simple ac- 
Iknowledgment of what God has done.” * 

If any man holds a divine commission and 
warrant for his work, it is absolutely certain 
that the Holy Spirit furnished him with his 
authority and credentials. There is a vast 
difference between man-made and God-made 
ministers. Alas, that there is so little recog- 
nition of the Holy Spirit in his blessed work 

* Rey. Dr. J. H. Thornwell. 


44 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


of calling, qualifying, sending out, and locat- 
ing ministers and other workers in the Church 
and in the world ! 

I am fully satisfied that God the Holy 
Spirit has called and qualified and assigned 
to service, not to the ministry, not only D. L. 
Moody, but many others whose heads have 
never felt the touch of hands ecclesiastical ; 
and I am also satisfied that many who have 
received the human are entirely destitute of 
the divine ordination. On this vital subject 
let us return to the Holy Ghost theory and 
practice of the Apostolic Christians, as re- 
corded in the book of Acts. The recognition 
of this supreme and exclusive prerogative of 
the Spirit would add omnipotence to the work 
of the Church. 

(c) A third ministry of the Spirit to the 
Church is the bestowment of “gifts.” In 
the Epistle to the Corinthians there is an 
enumeration of the gifts or charisma of the 
Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12 : 4-16; also in Rom. 
12:6-9). “The peculiarity of the dispen- 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Ad 


sation of the Spirit consisted in the general 
diffusion of these gifts; they extended to all 
classes—male and female, young and old ; 
and there was also a wonderful diversity of 
these gifts. Believers were organs of the 
Spirit and under his influence.” * Biblical 
exegetes have been unable to agree on any 
natural or logical classification of these gifts 
or charisma; nor are they agreed on the 
answer to the further question, Were these 
gifts local and limited in the time, or were 
they general and perpetual? Those enu- 
merated in the Epistle to the Corinthians are : 

1. The word of wisdom ; 

2. The word of knowledge ; 
“Faith ; 
Gifts of healing ; 
Working of miracles ; 
Prophecy ; 
Discerning of spirits ; 
Tongues ; 


COON AP TP 


Interpretation of tongues. 
* Dr. Charles Hodze. 


46 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


The eternal energies of the Spirit flowed 
out through believers as his organs. in all 
these varied manifestations; but all these 
were the work of one and the same Spirit, 
dividing to each one according to the Spirit’s 
sovereign will, and every manifestation of 
the Spirit was for the spiritual profit of the 
Church. 

There were three infallible tests or marks 
Viz. : 


of the divine character of these gifts 

Ist. No man could say that Jesus Christ 
was Lord, and serve him as such, but by and 
in the Holy Ghost. 

2d. Every gift or manifestation must be for 
the edification of the Church. 

3d. The manifestation would never be in 
conflict with the written Word or apostolic 
authority. 

The dispensation inaugurated at Pentecost 
by the Holy Spirit was most emphatically a 
supernatural one, and must of necessity con- 
tinue to be supernatural. The omniscient 
and omnipresent Spirit abides in the Church 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 47 


as a spirit of life and power and salvation ; 
and Joel’s prophecy will yet be more abun- 
dantly fulfilled. The Holy Spirit has never, 
anywhere in the written Word, placed on 
these gifts a limit either as to the time or 
place or people. He has never named the 
last place or the last day of his manifestation 
in and through these supernatural gifts. 

If in any place, if at any time, the claim 
is made that these gifts of the Spirit have 
been bestowed, then all we can demand—and 
this much we must demand—is, Bring forth 
evidence sufficient to establish the fact alleged ; 
if the fact is proved, we accept it. 

If the “miracle,” the “ healing,” or the 
“tongue” be a fact, then adduce the proof; 
we will sift the evidence, and if it be sufficient 
we will admit and accept the fact, and honor 
the Holy Spirit in his manifested work. 
We will never deny his supernatural power, 
nor any established fact wrought by that 
power. | 

In the striking figure of the human body 


48 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


the Spirit teaches Christians not to disparage 
the position or work of one another. 

The eye, the ear, the hand, the limb, has 
each its proper place and function in the 
body ; so in the body of Christ—his Church 
—there are many members, but each with 
his appropriate position and duties. The 
work to be done is manifold, and coextensive 
with the race; the workers must be of. all 
ranks, conditions, and classes ; hence there will 
be great diversities in both the workers and 
the work, and yet if all are under the guid- 
ance cf the same Spirit the work will be one. 

We cannot forbid men to cast out demons 
in the name of the Lord because they follow 
not with us, because they do not belong to 
our race or country or sect or church or party. 
We may not be able to work with them in 
their way, but we dare not hinder them from 
casting out demons by the power of the Spirit 
in the name of the Lord Jesus. This is the 
supreme test of all Christian work: Are 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 49 


Jesus and by the power of the Spirit dwell- 
ing in the worker? If so, do not hinder, 
but help him. 

Alas that there should be in the Christian 
Church so little toleration and so much 
bigotry! The Holy Spirit dwells in, and 
has use and work for, each and every Chris- 
tian. 

(d) The final glorification of the Church 
by the Holy Spirit. 

The Church during this dispensation is 
sadly marred and disfigured by the sins of 
its members; even the churches planted and 
ninistered to by the apostles of our Lord 
deserved and received his sharpest rebukes. 
There were factions, heresies, schisms, cor- 
ruptions, defections, and apostasies, and the 
evil seeds have germinated and borne the 
same sad harvests in every age and among 
_jevery people; and this condition will continue 
until the end of the harvest, when the Lord 
imself will return in like manner as he weut 


ip into heaven. 
4 


50 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


Then the Head of the Church, our Lord 
Jesus, will present her to himself, a glorious 
Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any 
such thing ; then will she look forth as the 
morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, 
and terrible as an army with banners. When 
the time for the marriage of the Lamb shall 
come, his wife, arrayed in fine linen, clean 
and bright, will be ready—made ready by the 
transforming and glorifying power of the 
Holy Spirit. The preparation of the bride 
for her marriage with her glorious Bride- 
groom is from beginning to end the work of 
the Holy Ghost, and the marriage itself will 
be consummated by his indwelling presence 


and power. 


7. THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT TO THE 
WORLD. 

- Our Lord plainly told his disciples that it 

was expedient for them that he should go 

away ; that the coming of the Comforter was 

conditioned upon his departure; that when 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. rat 


that blessed Person should come he would 
execute a threefold ministry to the world: He 
would convince— 

(a) Of sin; 

(6) Of righteousness ; and 

(c) Of judgment. 

A ministry not outward and material, but 
inward and spiritual; a ministry of convinc- 
ing and convictive power, wrought in the 
innermost depths of the heart and the con- 
science ; a ministry without which none could 
be saved, without which the Church could 
not be extended and enlarged. 

The Lord Jesus classified this ministry 
under three heads: (a) “ Of sin, because they 
believe not on me;” (6) “Of righteousness, 
because I go to my Father, and ye see me no 
more ;” (c) “Of judgment, because the prince 
of this world is judged.” 

These three things, sin, righteousness, and 
judgment, are facts—fearful realities; but 
the world does not see and know them as 
such ; nay, the world does not believe, and 


52 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


never will believe until convinced and con- 
vieted by the powerful personal ministry of 
the Holy Spirit. 


(a) He will Convict of. Sin. 


The conscience of the natural man is so 
defiled that his convictions of sin are faint 
and infrequent; much less does he see sin as 
God sees it. Human governments, for the 
protection of persons and property, legislate 
against crime, and organized society lifts its 
hands in holy horror when some gross offender 
against its proprieties 1s detected in some 
detestable vice. Men are forward enough to 
denounce “open criminality and vice, and 
especially detected vice, because it offends 
their sense of propriety and has a tendency 
to render persons and property insecure ; not 
that they have so much hatred of sin or 
sense of its heinousness as love for themselves 
and their possessions. The world sweeps on 
in its mad career of sin, with faint and in- 
adequate consciousness of its deep and des- 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Do 


perate depravity in the sight of a holy God; 
nor will true conviction of sin ever come 
except through the convincing work of the 
Holy Ghost. 

The Spirit uses the Word of God to con- 
vince the natural man of sin and to reveal to 
him the intense and searching spirituality of 
the moral law. 

God’s law is designed for the thoughts and 
intents of the heart. The greatest expounder 
of the Law who ever lived said plainly that 
anger in the heart is murder, that lust in the 
heart is adultery. The outward act of sin may 
never be committed, and yet when the Holy 
Spirit lights up the dark recesses of the soul 
with the truth of God, the man shrinks with 
horror from the view of his own dark and 
dreadful iniquity. 

“This personal consciousness is so vivid 
and real that it becomes intolerably painful ; a 
man will see himself as he never before saw 
himself, and feel the burden of life with a new 
and insupportable oppression. His moral 


a THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


sense will be so purified that he will feel at 
times that even an evil thought is an unpar- 
donable sin.” * 

At such a time he will clearly see that sin 
and crime are not identical, and that a man 
ean be filled with sin though free from crime. 
Nor will he be at all concerned with degrees 
of sin—any sin, all sin, will be damnable ; 
for then he will see sin in the light of God’s 
Jaw and as the Holy Ghost sees it. 

But the specific sin of which the Spirit 
convicts the awakened sinner is the sin of 
unbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ—“ of sin, 
because they believe not on me.” 

Under the purifying power of the Holy 
Spirit unbelief in Jesus Christ, unbelief in 
God manifested in the flesh, stands out in all 
its horrible hideousness as the sin of sins— 
the deepest, darkest, and most damnable of 
all sin. 


“ Where shall my trembling soul be hid? 
For I the Lord have slain.” 


* Rey. Dr. Joseph Parker. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 5Y3) 


Now the conviction is so keen and relent- 
less that every concealing shadow is chased 
from the inmost life by the consuming light 
of infinite purity, and the man knows that in 
turning away from Jesus Christ he has turned 
from the Son of God, the only Mediator and 
Saviour, and then the agony will be like the 
very pains of hell. In all his past life he 
has not believed what God said about. his 
Son, and hence he has treated God as if he 
were a har. | 

This conviction of the sin of unbelief is 
unlike any natural experiences of the sinner ; 
it is wrought not by the power of the natural 
conscience, nor even by the truth of God 
itself, but by the omnipotent influence of a 
divine Person, even the Holy Spirit. He 
will convict “ of sin, because they believe not 
on me.” 

“Unless sin be understood, Jesus Christ 
will not be understood. The first clear view 
any man gets of his sin marks the crisis of 
his life.” If now he turns away from the 


56 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


incarnate Son of God, how shall he escape 
the damnation of hell ? 


(6) He will Convince of Righteousness. 

The sinner thus convicted of sin by the 
Spirit feels his need of righteousness—right- 
ness in the sight of God. First, foremost 
and above all else, he must be right with 
God, for he now knows that God must be 
just and that his right hand is full of right- 
eousness. It is not so much a question of 
how to escape punishment as how to get such 
a rightness that he will not deserve punish- 
ment. 

His own conscience must be satisfied ; he 
must be satisfied with himself; he must be at 
peace with both himself and God, and God 
also must be at peace with him. Nor can 
this peace ever be established and enjoyed 
except in and by and upon righteousness. 
The work of righteousness shall be peace, 
and the effect of righteousness, quietness and 
assurance for ever. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 57 


But where shall such a righteousness be 
found, and how shall it be secured, made a 
personal possession, and enjoyed? The answer 
‘is this: He shall convince “ of righteousness, 


? as if our Lord 


because [ go to my Father ;’ 
had said, ‘My resurrection, ascension, and 
enthronement will be the conclusive evidence 
to you that my righteous Father has been 
well pleased with me in all my mediatorial 
work, and that he accepts and approves that 
work of righteousness done by me for every 
one who will accept me as the end of the law 
for righteousness.” And now the blessed 
Comforter through the Word thus speaks to 
the convicted sinner : “ Say not in thine heart, 
Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to 
bring Christ down from above): or, Who 
shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring 
up Christ again from the dead). But what 
saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy 
mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word 
of faith, which we preach. . . . For with the 
heart man believeth unto righteousness; and 


58 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


with the mouth confession is made unto sal- 
ration.” 

“ This righteousness is personal and living ; 
it is Christ himself, the end of the law for 
rightness, and the Lord our Rightness. It is 
not suffering endured by him; it is the great 
Sufferer, the great Offerer himself. It is not 
some event in Christ’s history; it is the his- 
torical and ever-living Christ himself. It is 
not some ‘legal fiction’ preliminary to re- 
demption; it is redemption itself; it is the 
slain Lamb our righteousness shining forth, 
perfected in death and resurrection glory.” * 

Christ is rightness, and Christ is ours, and 
we are made the righteousness of God in him. 
This conviction is wrought in the soul, not 
by the wisdom of men, not by any natural 
power or force of man himself, but by the 
persuasive power of the personal Spirit as he 
glorifies the personal Christ to the convicted 
and convineed sinner. To such a sinner the 
question of rightness with God is righteously 

* Rey. Hugh Martin. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 59 


and eternally settled,and, being justified by faith, 
he has peace with God. He shall convince “ of 
righteousness, because I go to my Father.” 


(c) He will Convince of Judgment. 

In the 12th chapter of John’s Gospel our 
Lord spoke of the “ hour” and the “ lifting 
up,” and the Father testified in an audible 
voice to his beloved Son, and then * Jesus 
added these significant words: ‘ Now is the 
judgment of this world: now shall the prince 
of this world be cast out.” 

In the “lifting up” of Jesus on the cross 
is revealed God’s judgment or condemnation 
on sin, on this world, and on the prince of 
this world. At the cross the world is judged : 
it is a wicked world,.a world guilty of the 
blood of the Lord Jesus, whom “ye have 
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified 
and slain,” is the judgment of the Holy 
Ghost by the mouth of the apostle Peter; 
“and this is the condemation,” or judgment, 
“that light is come into the world, and men 


60 THE MANIFOLD MINISTRY 


loved darkness rather than light, because their 
deeds were evil ;” and “he that believeth not 
is condemned already.” 

The judgment of which the Spirit here 
convinces is not so much the judgment to 
come, as it is often incorrectly quoted, as thie 
judgment that is past—passed at the cross 
and in the death of Christ; by that cross 
this world is to the believer a dead world, 
and by the same cross he is dead to the dead 
world. The lifting up of the Son of man is 
a judgment of death on the world; at the 
end, it and all its works shall be burned up. 

“Of judgment, because the prince of this 
world is judged.” There are several clearly 
marked stages in the judgment of God on 
Satan, the adversary of “Christ and the “ god 
of this world.” He is not yet bound with a 
chain and cast into the abyss. That judgment — 
is future, and then, a thousand years after, 
the final judgment will be reached and he 
will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone 
prepared for him and his angels. 


OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 61 


“T beheld Satan,” said Christ, “as light- 
ning fall from heaven.” For the very pur- 
pose of destroying the works of the devil was 
the Son of God manifested. At the cross the 
victory was secured, and when the great High 
Priest ascended into heaven, then was this 
foul accuser of Christ’s brethren cast out and 
down; for they overcame him by the blood 
of the Lamb. 

The deep and abiding conviction of this 
divine judgment on sin, on the world, and on 
Satan is wrought by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, and is wrought in connection with the 
conviction of sin and righteousness. He, the 
blessed Comforter, glorifies Christ as he thus 
carries on in the souls of men this threefold 
convictive work of sin, of righteousness, and 
of judgment; nor is any man ever convinced 
of these tremendous realities of the spiritual 
and eternal world except by the personal 
power of the Holy Spirit. 

These, then, are the works of the Spirit, as 
those works are revealed in the Word of God; 


62 THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


this his manifold ministry, as that ministry 
is so clearly stated in the Scriptures; and in 
the light of such a ministry it would seem 
more reasonable to question or doubt the per- 
sonality of the Father, or even of the Son, 
than to question or doubt the divine person- 
ality of the Holy Spirit. 

He is omniscient, omnipresent, and eternal, 
of the same substance and equal in glory with 
the Father and the Son. He comes much 
nearer to us than either the Father or the 
Son, for he enters into our innermost life and 
being, so that he dwells in us and we are his 
habitation. He reveals Christ to us, and 
forms Christ in us the hope of glory. 

This is that other divine Person promised 
by our Lord to his disciples—“the Com- 
forter,” “the Spirit of truth,’ who will teach 
them all, things, and bring all of Christ’s 
words to their remembrance: let them be. 
careful “to grieve not the Holy Spirit of God 
whereby ” they “are sealed unto the day of 
redemption.” 


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